Chapter 1
Directly ahead of the Star Destroyer Admonitor, the sun of the Endor system was a small orange disk in the distance. Surrounding it and ship was the spattering of pinprick white stars in the vast, deep blackness of space. Below, the sanctuary moon started to brighten on the horizon line, as the sun came in view. Dawn was approaching.
A dawn that would hopefully bring new revelations into the treacherous alliance between the Imperial Grand Admiral Grant and alien Warlord Nuso Esva.
Sipping his cup of chialki tea on the bridge, Captain Voss Parck gazed out the viewport at the planet as the operation began commencement. Behind him, seated in the command chair, Grand Admiral Thrawn was studying the flurry of status readouts, tapping in command codes on various datapads and calmly issuing authorization orders for the bridge crew to carry out their duties. A task, Parck noted, that the Captain would normally handle. But then again, perhaps not on such a potentially important, though subtle execution as this.
No, the Grand Admiral would make sure that he gave the authorization on this procedure. This was his plan, and one that he would make sure be carried out to the end with the utmost efficiency. Thrawn had made it a personal mission of his to bring down Nuso Esva, convinced that he was the deadliest opponent the Empire faced, even more so than the Rebel Alliance; a belief that for the moment was challenged by the Empire's costly defeat by the Alliance here at Endor…
Where the Emperor, himself, was killed…along with Darth Vader, a Grand Admiral, the Super Star Destroyer Executor, and six Imperial Star Destroyers. The Intel briefings left no space heap unexamined since the Admonitor had taken orbit around Endor.
No matter how dangerous Thrawn claimed Esva to be, the fact remained that the Rebellion was responsible for Palpatine's death, not the alien warlord. And not some alleged renegade Grand Admiral plagued by ideologically driven delusions of grandeur.
Giving the readouts of the positioning forces on the ground one last check, Parck touched the comm-link button. "This is the Admonitor. Begin the sweep."
"Yes, sir," the ground patrol officer acknowledged
…
The scanning crew was quick and thorough…and it only took a couple of hours to sift through the wreckage.
"Nothing," Parck scowled after the detail officer and the others left the meeting room. "Well, that was a waste of time," he muttered, just loud enough for Thrawn to hear.
"On the contrary," Thrawn corrected. His fingers had formed a steeple and a thoughtful gaze crept along his visage. "It eliminates one of the potential reasons for Grant's betrayal. We now know that whatever the reason was, it had nothing to do with any of the Imperial military armaments in the Endor system."
"Either that, or perhaps the wreckage didn't contain whatever connects Admiral Grant with Nuso Esva," Parck retorted. "I still don't believe that this can be the only wreckage from the battle." Punching a couple of buttons in the center command console, he pulled up a stellar cartographical model on the main display. "I had our science techs calculate the impacts of a close orbital explosion near the moon." The model showed the Endor moon and the Death Star with small blips that could only be deduced as ships around the space station. The station exploded on the readout and the debris entered the Endor atmosphere. The projections showed the atmosphere's color turning from a cool bluish green to a desolate brown. "As you can see, sir, the debris crashing on the planet should've rendered the moon uninhabitable, virtually incapable of supporting any life." He shut off the display screen waited for Thrawn's explanation.
But the Grand Admiral simply shrugged. "In any case, the moon is still here isn't it? There are any number of possibilities to explain the lack of debris: wormholes, shockwave spatial displacement, but the fact is that this is all the debris we have detected." His glowing red eyes bored into the Captain's. "No, Grant was not connected with anything here. But here is the logical starting point."
"So if Grant is not the connection, then Nuso Esva is," Parck deduced.
The Grand Admiral smiled softly. "Indeed he is. I think our Tapani noble has underestimated the cunning of the alien warlord."
"Then what do we do about Admiral Grant?" Parck asked. "He's positioning himself for Supreme Commander under Sate Pestage. He'll have access to all intelligence and military ships, equipment, and personnel. We can't wage war against the whole Empire. It's suicide!"
"We do nothing," Thrawn replied grimly. "Even the best of commanders eventually make mistakes. In the meantime-"
"In the meantime?!" Parck cut him off.
"In the meantime," Thrawn said abruptly, "we will stay put and backtrack through the web that Nuso Esva and Admiral Grant have weaved. Eventually, we will report to Director Isard our findings. Besides," a slow smile played across his lips, "I haven't run out of tricks yet."
"What did you have in mind?" the Captain inquired.
"We'll rely on Delta Source to keep us updated on our illustrious Grand Admiral and the Grand Vizier," Thrawn finished.
Well, that's a start Parck thought. He wished that they could just go back to hunting Esva down by himself. But now things had gotten complicated. Having to depend on Delta Source and put their faith in someone such as Ysanne Isard was pushing it a bit much for Parck's own peace of mind. Still…
"Perhaps we should inform Admiral Niriz about the gravity of our situation, Admiral."
Thrawn brought his gaze from a cool distance to the here and now. "Yes, I suppose you're right. You may inform Admiral Niriz, but make sure you relay the message through Nirauan coded frequencies. I'm not taking any chances."
"Yes, sir," Parck said dutifully. In any case, the Rebels sure pulled out of here quickly. We couldn't have arrived more than a day after the battle ended."
"Yes, that is indeed an interesting observation," Thrawn agreed. "We must ascertain the whereabouts of the Rebel Fleet after the Endor battle and find out what made them leave Endor so quickly. And," he added almost as an afterthought, "why Nuso Esva is so determined to lure me to Endor and the Rebels elsewhere."
So Thrawn had put it together. Parck had suspected it after the negative reports scrolled in on the display. This was a trap. It had to be. There was no Rebel Alliance, no enemy within sight, but the flagship of Thrawn's fleet with the Grand Admiral on board was here. Whatever Esva was doing, he was clearly manipulating the chain of events behind the scenes…
Manipulating the Rebel Alliance, and Grand Admiral Thrawn. "I'll put Intelligence on it right away, sir."
…
Dagon Niriz jerked out of his sleep at the blaring sound of klaxons. The Nirauan fortress was under attack. "What in the worlds," he swore as he fought the grogginess and struggled to get into his tunic. "Of all blazing times it had to be now."
Several moments later, Niriz had gotten completely dressed, raced down the hallway, and entered the command room. Whoever had ruined his good night's sleep would pay dearly for this.
Apparently, he wasn't the only one. All across the room the dreary eyes and matted hair of painfully alert officers and soldiers scattered throughout the command relays. "What've we got Lieutenant?" Niriz asked the Officer of the Watch.
"Two Firekiln ships and several smaller vessels have just breached the outer perimeter and are on a direct course for Nirauan." He hesitated for a second before continuing. "By the looks of it, I'm afraid they've found our base."
"Nonsense, Lieutenant," Niriz admonished. "I'd hardly think our alien adversary would be so ill-prepared to engage us on our own turf with such weak numbers." He turned to the Operations Officer. "Colonel, what's the ETA of the Hammerhead and Warhawk."
"They'll be here in 26 minutes," Colonel Ringer gritted out through his cigarra. "We have plenty of ships to keep 'em busy until they arrive, Admiral."
But something didn't add up. Nuso Esva never engaged directly, and he never would use only two Firekiln warships as a frontal assault by themselves. What was he up to?
"I've got several ships flashing on the sensors," the Lieutenant called out. "Their ahead of the inner perimeter and approaching the atmosphere." He gazed at the display again as Niriz and Ringer walked over to see the readout.
"Where did they come from?" Niriz demanded.
"I don't know," the lieutenant replied his voice beginning to panic. "They weren't there a minute ago, and now their registering on the sensors."
"Can you get the make of the ship models?" the Colonel asked.
"I have the information right here, sir," the lieutenant replied and gulped. "If the information is correct, they're Imperial Star Destroyers."